


The Only Proof That I Need Is You

by behindthetardis



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, A melted pile of cotton candy fluffy feels, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, anyways yeah it's just fluff, because we know these two are just so disgustingly in love, lots of Jake's thoughts, mostly about how beautiful and perfect amy is, oh and one time where she thinks that about him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4124500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/behindthetardis/pseuds/behindthetardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I saw you staring again, weirdo,” she laughs into his chest.</p><p> </p><p>5 times Jake Peralta gets caught staring at Amy Santiago, and 1 time Amy gets caught staring at Jake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Proof That I Need Is You

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out to be a little (lot) longer than I originally planned it to be, but hey, I'm not complaining. Special thanks to the amazing violaede for all her support and encouragement and for being super forgiving when I sent her teasers and never the whole story.
> 
> (Note: The first one is before "Johnny & Dora", but all the others take place after that, on my own fun little made up timeline.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or these characters. Thanks for letting me play around with them and let them be the adorable dorks they are. I also don't own the song the title is from ("Proof" by Paramore), so let's not sue? Thanks! 
> 
> Enjoy!!

 

**ONE**

     The first time that she catches him staring at her, they’re filling out paperwork. The perp they arrested yesterday had committed an obscene number of misdemeanors that each required their own paperwork.

     It was her idea that they split the forms up between them. The bet is over, so it doesn't matter whose signature is at the bottom of all the paperwork. 

     Distracted and tired, Jake puts down his pen and runs his fingers through his hair, trying to get his mind back on the paperwork, despite the fact that it is his least favorite part of the job.

     His favorite part of his job is sitting across from him. She is hunched over her paperwork, checking the appropriate boxes with perfect checkmarks and initialing the appropriate paragraphs. _God, even her checkmarks are cute_ , he thinks. _I’m in way too far with this stupid crush. Why did she have to make that stupid rule about not wanting to stupid date stupid cops? This whole thing is just so…STUPID!_

     Despite his frustrations, he allows his mind to wander further, wondering what would’ve happened if he actually had told her how he felt, like he had last year, before going undercover. They were both single now; with Teddy and Sophia out of the way, maybe they have a chance. 

     He doesn’t realize that he’s gotten into another one of his staring sessions in the middle of the bullpen, with their coworkers surrounding them, and Holt in his office just steps away. His entire focus becomes her, becomes _Amy_ , as he catalogues her face; memorizing what he already knows: the way her brow furrows when she’s confused, the cute way her nose scrunches up when she laughs particularly hard, the tiny, content smile she gets when she finished paperwork perfectly.

     He wonders what it would be like to get to date her, coming into work together and exchanging a chaste kiss outside the precinct before work (because Amy would insist on keeping things _professional_ and _appropriate_ in the precinct, of course). He imagines working cases together, as a couple; not only fighting bad guys on the streets, but simply being together as they file their paperwork and arrest reports late at night, after locking up their perps. Or collecting evidence for cold cases when they have some extra time, sitting together in the evidence lockup during overtime, her hair pulled back in a loose bun, and his tie loosened (or taken off) because Holt will have already gone home for the day. Because once he’s got her, Holt’s the only one he needs to impress.

     Returning from his daydream, he finally realizes that he’s been in the middle of a full on staring session, all sights directed toward the object of his affections. What? It’s not like it’s never happened before. But it’s been happening more than usual lately, since before Gina and Charles’s parent’s wedding, and especially since his multiple failed attempts to ask her out during that case with Majors. That was when she made her stupid rule about dating cops, and it crushed him. He knew he loved his job, and he knew he loved Amy. He’d worked hard for his job, now it was time to really start working hard for Amy.

     But he knows he can’t go too fast, or try to make her decisions for her, despite what Rosa said. Until he has his moment, he is content with just looking at her from across their shared desk space.

     Her dark hair is out of its usual tight ponytail today, held back behind her ears. Every so often it falls into a curtain around her face. He wants so badly to move it out of her face. He knows it’s bothering her, being down like that and in her way.

     She puts her pen down and lifts her head. In one fluid motion, she looks up at Jake and tucks her hair behind both her ears at the same time, a slight smile on her face. Jake’s eyes lock with hers, which were full of confusion.

     “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks.

     “What? Looking at you like…I wasn’t…what?” Jake stammers, unable to get his words right.

     “I don’t know, I just looked up and you’re staring at me,” Amy responds.

     “Well I wasn’t…I just…what do I put on this part of the form?” He asks, pointing to the first blank on his paper.

     “Signature of arresting officer(s)?” Amy questions, her brow furrowing further. _God, that is so adorable_ , he thinks. He really has it _bad_.

     “So I just sign here then, yep, just checking!” Jake manages, neck flushing with embarrassment.

     “And you call me Detective Terrible Detective,” Amy mumbles under her breath, but loud enough for him to hear. He smiles down at his form, avoiding her eyes.

     A moment later, his phone buzzes with a text from Gina: **nice *heart eyes emoji* Peralta. Real subtle.**

 

* * *

 

**TWO**

     The second time she catches him staring is on (well, before) their first official date. They already technically had two, if you count their bet ( _what? It went on the good date list!_ ), and their undercover date as Johnny and Dora ( _he ate oysters and they kissed twice, come on_ ). But as Jake and Amy, a real couple (a phrase he will never get used to), this is their first _real_ date.

     He arrives to pick her up at her apartment at 7:00 sharp (there’s no chance he’s going to be late for something as important as this). When she buzzes him up, it is Amy’s voice on the speaker, but when he knocks on her door, Gina answers.

     “I’m assuming you’re here for Amy?” She asks sarcastically, looking him up and down.

     He is wearing his nicest jeans, a plaid shirt, tie, and signature leather jacket. Nothing too fancy (he is still Jake); but he dressed up more than he would for a date with any other girl. He also held a bouquet of flowers, the cheapest and prettiest ones from the bodega across the street (he might be in _crushing_ debt, but Amy is worth a little extra something).

     “Well I’m not here for you, am I?” He says, all of his nervousness being channeled into an attempt at humor with his best friend.

     “Well you’ve cleaned up nice, I might not turn you down this time,” Gina responds without hesitation. She opens up the door wider to let him in.

     He steps into Amy’s apartment, but the familiar location is not doing much to comfort his frazzled nerves. Yes, he’s been here dozens of times before, Thanksgiving with the squad, movie nights with Amy, and (more often than she is willing to admit) dropping her off after a few too many at the bar after work.

     “She’ll be out in a minute,” Kylie says, appearing from the direction of Amy’s bedroom.

     “Okay,” Jake says, leaning up against the kitchen counter as Kylie begins to collect her stuff.

     “Ames, he’s here! Gina and I are leaving, so finish up, okay?” Kylie yells to her.

     “Okay, thanks for all your help!” He hears her voice echo from her room.

     “Anytime sunshine. Bring all my extra makeup you borrowed to work on Monday!” Gina calls to her. She grabs her purse off the couch and turns to Jake. “Now, as much as I would love to stay and watch you two lovebirds finally leave the nest, my new bestie Kylie and I have four clubs to hit tonight, so we have to go beautify ourselves. I know you’re my best friend and you know my loyalty lies with you should this end badly, but seriously, don’t let it end badly. Shake off those obvious nerves, okay?”

     And with a pat on his shoulder, she disappears out the door.

     “It was nice to meet you Kylie!” Jake sarcastically yells to the closed door.

     “Are you ready to go?” Her voice echoes through the apartment.

     His head whips around to see her standing in the doorway between her living room and bedroom.

     It’s not like she’s dressed all that fancy, she dressed nicer for their first unofficial date (the bet), Holt’s party, and that undercover dance competition. Tonight, she’s wearing dark skinny jeans, ankle boots with a slight heel, a royal blue blouse, and a casual black blazer over it. It’s nothing like her typical work outfits, and yet it feels completely _her_.

     Her hair is down, curled, and pinned to one side (no doubt the work of Gina), and her makeup is simple, but a little darker than she usually wears at work. Not that it matters to him; she looks gorgeous to him, no matter what. She could be chasing down a perp, normally tight bun in disarray, blazer fanning out behind her and he still thinks she is perfect.

     Tonight though, she looks more gorgeous, beautiful, and _stunning_ (that’s the word he’s looking for), than she ever has before.

     “Like what you see?” She smirks, and walks over to him, while he nods and remains speechless. “Are those for me?” She gestures to the flowers.

     Wordlessly, he hands them to her, their fingers brushing together as he passes them to her, the slightest touch sending volts of electricity down his spine.

     “I’ll put these in water, and we’ll go whenever you’re ready,” she grins, her megawatt smile making him smile back at her, despite the lack of speech his brain usually provides at surplus for him.

     He watches her take the plastic wrap off the base of the flowers, and retrieve a vase from a top cabinet, having to stretch, even with heels on. He watches her fill the vase with water, and arranges the flowers on her kitchen table. Once she’s finished, she turns back to him.

     “Jake, are you okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you silent for this long,” she begins, absentmindedly playing with her watch. “If this is too weird, we don’t have to do this. I know we kissed those times undercover, and then that one weird time in the evidence lockup, but if you want to postpone this, because it’s just too strange, or even cancel it, I’d completely understand - ”

     He cuts her off by stepping forward toward her, reaching out to cup her cheek, and gently pressing his lips on hers. Lightly, like air. It packs none of the urgency, heat, or need of their previous three kisses.

     He leans back, and presses his forehead to hers, opening his eyes to see her face closer than ever. He lets his hand move down from her cheek to her shoulder and pulls her in for a hug. She wraps her arms around his waist and rests her head on his shoulder. He feels all his nervousness melt off of him in the comfort of her arms.

     “Wow, I really hope that wasn’t the goodnight kiss,” Amy laughs and pulls back from his embrace.

     “Oh Amy, when I kiss you goodnight, you’ll _know_ ,” he smirks, grabbing her hand.

     “And he speaks!” Amy says with a sarcastic face of shock.

     “Well it’s not my fault that you’re so beautiful that you _literally_  render me speechless,” Jake says, a genuine smile spreading across his face.

     “Stop it, you dork,” Amy laughs, “Where are we going to dinner?”

     He squeezes her hand, and pulls her out the door. “It’s a surprise. Now, let’s go!”

     She notices him staring at her all through dinner (are those heart eyes? Probably not…), but doesn’t say anything about it, because how often is Jake Peralta this quiet?

 

* * *

 

**THREE**

     The third time he gets caught staring at her is after they’ve been dating for a while. He looks at her all the time now, but most of the times she knows it and doesn’t call him out on it. But when she does, he says something corny and stupid that makes his favorite Santiago smile appear – the one that makes her nose crinkle and her eyes glare at him in a mix of adoration and annoyance.

     They’ve gotten into a good routine – work, (occasionally they’ll go to the bar with the squad after work, but not as much as usual since Gina is constantly yelling at them to “GET A ROOM,” whenever they so much as look at each other, so now they only go a few times a week), come home to one of their apartments (almost always Amy’s – it’s cleaner), order takeout or have Jake cook dinner (Amy still can’t successfully cook anything more complicated than microwave popcorn), then they hang out together, usually on the couch. Sometimes Amy will read a book, sometimes they’ll watch TV together, sometimes they’ll just make out on the couch until (if) they make it to their bedroom for their favorite “sex timez.” (Jake’s term.)

     On this particular night, Amy is reading over a case file, and Jake has _CSI_ playing on the TV in the background. They’re sprawled out on the couch, Jake’s feet on her coffee table, her legs stretched across his lap. She has her glasses on and her hair loose around her shoulders.

     _God, she is so beautiful_ , he thinks. These past few months have been so good for him, his finances have never been in better shape, his arrest rates have skyrocketed, and it’s all because of her. She makes him feel like he can do anything.

     He watches as her brow furrows in confusion at the case, creating hills and valleys that only make her face more perfect than her everyday beauty. There is nothing he wants more than to lean forward and kiss the confusion off her face and tell her how brilliant she is, and how she’s so close to this solve. His eyes meet hers and he realizes that, once again, she’s caught him.

     “What?” Amy asks.

     “Nothing,” he responds with a smile.

     Her brow furrows deeper in confusion, and he leans forward to kiss her, going forward toward her lips, then moving up to between her eyes, pressing a kiss to the creases caused by confusion, making her giggle.

     “You’re being an even bigger doofus than usual today,” she laughs.

     “Your cuteness is so distracting, I blame you for making me act like said doofus,” he says with a grin.

     “That doesn’t even make sense, I’m the one working right now,” Amy says, and a familiar smile crosses her face. His favorite one. A mix between adoration and annoyance, directed right at him.

 

* * *

 

**FOUR**

     The fourth (notable) time she calls him out for zoning out and staring at her is after they’ve been together for over a year. They’re living together at this point, so Jake gets to look at her almost all the time (when he isn’t catching bad guys or planning romantic date night for the third Thursday of the month  - the one night they usually have off together).

     Holt has him scheduled for the night shift three days in a row this week, and he _loathes_ it. Not only does it mean that he has to spend the night at the precinct (staying up all night), but he has to spend his entire shift – no, his entire _day_ without Amy. He can’t even text her, she’s asleep, getting rested up for her day shift that starts only a few hours after his ends.

     So he spends most of the night doing mundane tasks and messing with Hitchcock and Scully’s desks. He hates sitting at his desk when he’s working the night shift. He doesn’t want to look up from his computer and not see her there, working hard and giving him motivation to do his work. He hates these night shifts. He hates being away from Amy.

     When his phone alarm finally goes off, echoing in the mostly empty precinct, he grabs his jacket and bolts out of the bullpen.

     He makes it home in record time, jamming his key into the door, but turning the lock quietly. Amy’s alarm will go off in a few minutes, and he doesn’t want to wake her. He closes the door behind him as quietly as he can, and makes quick work of putting a pot of coffee on.

     Rubbing his eyes to stay awake, he grabs two coffee mugs from the cabinet as quietly as he can. All he wants to do is go into their bedroom and climb into bed with Amy and fall asleep next to her. But that would wake her up before her alarm goes off, and he’d rather let her wake up to her alarm which she has set to her exact hour of REM sleep. It’s stuff like this that he doesn’t understand about Amy Santiago, but loves just the same.

     He pours coffee in both the mugs, adding a concerning amount of sugar and cream to his, and milk to hers. In the other room, he hears her alarm go off and her stirring, throwing the covers off the bed.

     “Jake?” she calls through the apartment.

     “Kitchen,” he responds, letting the coffee wake him up a little bit.

     Amy emerges from their bedroom, and notices the coffee first. Making a beeline for the caffeine she needs to get ready for her day, she notices her exhausted looking boyfriend, still in his work clothes, bags under his eyes and coffee cup already half empty.

     “Thank you,” she says. “I thought you would’ve gotten into bed as soon as you got home.” She hops up onto the tall chair at the bar of their kitchen counter.

     “I needed coffee. And I wanted to see your cute face conscious before you left for work,” he smiles, leaning forward against the counter.

     “Thanks. And I know; it really sucks that we keep getting opposite shifts. It’s so hard to not see you at work everyday…” she keeps talking, but Jake is so tired he doesn’t register all of the words she’s saying.

     He takes another sip of his coffee, taking her in in the morning light coming in from the window behind him. Her hair is mussed from sleep, and her eyes squinting at the light. If you asked her, she would say there’s a reason she takes a shower and puts on makeup in the morning, but if you asked Jake, he’d tell her she was a babe even without makeup.

     She takes another sip of coffee. “Jake? You still with me?” She waves her hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his sleep-deprived state.

     “Yeah, babe, I’m still here,” he takes another sip of his coffee, and watches an embarrassed smile creep across her face.

     Pet names are her weakness. She told him once when they were talking on her couch until 4AM, that with all her old boyfriends, cutesy nicknames like that annoyed the hell out of her because they seemed so fake. He immediately swore that he would never call her another nickname again, since he never wanted to annoy her (well, other than his classic “title of our sex tape” jokes and other the little things that he knew annoyed her in a loving way). But, after kissing him in reassurance, she promised his romantic nicknames never bothered her, because she knew they were from a place of genuine care.

     “So did you have a good shift?” She asks, draining her coffee mug and getting up to refill it.

     “Eh, good as a shift where I’m alone and bored as can be,” he responds.

   “Want another cup?” She offers, filling her mug up with a second cup of coffee.

     “Nah, I’m about to go to bed,” he says, turning around to place his cup in the sink.

     Almost as quickly as he turns around, he feels her come up to him from behind, threading her arms around his waist and pressing her head to the back of his leather jacket.

     Turning around in her grip, he wraps his arms around her, sliding them around and up her back against the soft fabric of her tee shirt. He kisses the top of her head, and pulls her against him.

     “I saw you staring again, weirdo,” she laughs into his chest.

 

* * *

 

**FIVE**

     The fifth time he recalls her calling him out for staring at her is after they’re engaged. It’s only been a few weeks, so the thought of an actual wedding is still a magical idea in the distant future and referring to each other as “fiancé” is still taking some getting used to. The rest of their life doesn’t change much; it’s just like adding a title to their lives that already include each other more than any other couple they know.

     “Do you really think you’re better than me at this? Do you not watch while I spend hours on Sundays playing this game?” Jake asks, adrenaline already pumping for a competition.

     “No, I don’t, I’m usually reading. But yeah, I do think I’m better than you,” Amy argues, crossing her arms over her chest.

     “Do you wanna bet?” Jake asks.

     “Of course!” Amy responds, picking up the controller. “If I win this next round of MarioKart, then…you have to help me reorganize my closet this weekend!”

     “Ugh, fine. It’s a good thing I won’t lose,” Jake responds. “But _when_ I win, we have to try that sex thing I read in your _Cosmo_ in the bathroom last week.”

     “Deal,” Amy says with a smirk. “But you won’t win.”

     “Whatever you say…” Jake says, selecting his character on the screen.

     Their race begins, and Jake takes off on an early lead.

     “Out of my way, sucker!” Amy shoves Jake in the shoulder and sends a blue shell flying in the direction of his chosen character, Bowser.

     “Hey! Not fair!” Jake yells, turning his controller sharply to the right, just missing the final curve to complete the first lap.

     “There is no fair growing up with seven brothers! How well can you organize dress suits by color and fabric?” Amy says, speeding up with the bullet boost, putting her almost a complete lap ahead of Jake.

     “I won’t have to,” Jake says, voice slightly fading, as he knows he’s about to lose.

     Jake watches her character cross the finish line, and Amy springs off the couch.

     “YESS! Score for Santiago!” Amy cheers, and begins jumping in front of the TV, where Jake’s character hasn’t even finished the race.

     She continues her victory dance with a smirk, and Jake watches, defeated. It’s not like there is anything real on the line; it’s just a video game. Amy’s victory dance evolves into her jumping and shouting at him, pointing and making up a song about how great she is and organizing her closet this weekend. There is a victorious glimmer in her eye, and her tee shirt is rides up a little bit whenever she lifts her arms up to point at him.

     _Even gloating, she’s absolutely perfect_ , he thinks. _And_ I _get to spend the rest of my life with her._ The words still don’t feel normal in his brain. It’s been a few weeks and he still can’t get it through his mind that _Amy Santiago_ wants to spend every day with him, for the rest of her life. When he proposed, she said that he was “stuck with her,” but he sees it the other way around. He never thought that a girl as amazing as her would ever want to be with him. But here they are, engaged to be _married_ , and spending their Thursday night drinking wine, eating takeout, and playing MarioKart. His fiancé is doing a victory dance around their living room in bare feet, skinny jeans, and one of his tee shirts. If someone had told him years ago that this was his future, he would’ve laughed in their face, but now, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

     Amy falls back on the couch, swinging her legs around to lay across his lap. “Now don’t look at me with that puppy-dog-longing-for-love face, Peralta. We’re gonna have so much fun organizing this weekend,” she giggles.

     “I bet,” he laughs.

     “Then maybe after we finish that,” she starts, sitting up so she’s right in front of his face, their lips almost brushing together. “We can try that thing you read all about in _Cosmo_?”

     His face splits into a wide grin and closes the space between them, pressing his lips firmly against hers. Her tongue swipes against the seam of his lips, and catches his bottom lip between her teeth.

     He pulls back, listening to her breath hitch – from the kiss and her victory dancing. Her pupils are wide and cheeks are flushed. _God, she is absolutely gorgeous_ , he thinks. _I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life looking at her._

     “But for now…” he begins, as she presses wet kisses to his jaw, making a trail down to his neck. “We can try that thing in _Cosmo_ that _you_ read?”

     She pulls away from his neck and stands up, turning and walking toward their bedroom. For a split second, he thinks she doesn’t want to do it, or she would’ve grabbed his hand and dragged him behind her to their room.

     But then she turns around, grinning sarcastically. “Unless you’d rather stare at my ass than have sex,” she asks.

     He bolts off the couch toward her, capturing her lips in a searing kiss before pulling her by the hand into their room.

     “That’s what I thought, weirdo,” she laughs.

 

* * *

 

**ONE**

     Amy Santiago is much better at covert observation than Jake is. She stares at him quite often, but he rarely catches her. One instance of this happening was a few months before their wedding, and it ends up costing her big time.

   They are at the grocery store, one of Jake’s favorite errands, and Amy’s least favorite errand. Since they’ve been living together (and even before that, when it was just spending nights), Jake has become the one who cooks dinner for them. Because of this, Amy usually lets him have the reins at the grocery store, since she will usually forget something important, like salt or pasta.

     “So what is this for?” Amy asks, picking up a seasoning that she can’t pronounce from their basket.

     “Flavor,” Jake responds, turning to the shelf to grab the coffee sweetener packets that he likes.

     She sighs, despite his motor mouth tendencies; sometimes it is impossible to get Jake to elaborate on something. “What kind of flavor?” She asks again.

     “I don’t know, it was something that I always put in lasagna when I made it for Gina, Nana, and myself growing up,” Jake responds, turning back around and pushing the cart farther down the aisle.

     Amy follows suit, putting her hand over his on the cart. He looks down at her and grins. “Can’t keep your hands off me?” He jokes.

     She immediately removes her hand. “Seriously? We’re in the grocery store!” She exclaims.

     “I don’t blame you! We only have a few more months of being fiancées before we’re _married_ ,” Jake says with a joking, yet serious face.

     “So, how did you become the chef in your family exactly? I never figured _you_ would be the one to know how to cook,” Amy says, changing the subject as they turn down the next aisle.

     “Well Gina wouldn’t put her phone down long enough to make sure she didn’t burn anything, and I really seemed to like it. After a while it became like a science experiment that I got to eat…” he says.

     He is still talking, but Amy isn’t listening anymore. She is focused on the animated way he is telling the story, while also managing to grab stuff from the shelves. It just isn’t fair that he can be this cute, this animated, and somehow also completely in love with her. It’s been a while since she tried to figure out the answer to her long burning question _‘_ what is it about Jake that makes him different from the other guys she’s dated’? Because at this point, it doesn’t matter to her anymore.

     Jake is completely different from any guy she ever thought she might end up with, but she doesn’t want it any other way. She doesn’t regret for one moment any part of their relationship. Not the fact that they danced around their crushes for almost two years, not the fact that said crushes came out on an investigation, and not even that their biggest fight to date was the most miserable three days and nights she’s ever experienced.

     Those not-so-fantastic moments are outshined by every great moment of their relationship – namely, _every other moment of their relationship_. Every time she looks across their desks at him and sees him obviously playing solitaire instead of filling out the paperwork he is supposed to be doing; every time she wakes up in the morning and with his arm wrapped around her waist; every time she sits on the counter with a glass of wine after work while Jake is cooking them dinner; and every time he whispers how beautiful he thinks she is into her hair when he thinks she can’t hear him. With every little moment like those, Amy is reminded just how much Jake loves her, and just how much she loves him and wants to be with him for the rest of her life.

     And there are also the relationship moments that only will only happen once, each showing her something different about their relationship. When they kissed for the first time (as Jake and Amy) in the evidence lockup after the day Holt left for his temporary PR leave, Amy knew he was serious about his feelings for her. She also knew that it was time, for the first time in her life, to break a Santiago rule.

     The next day, when he asked her out, and when they went on their first date, she knew that he was serious about being with her. She wasn’t just some girl that he called when he needed a date to something, but she was someone Jake truly wanted to be with. She knew that when he was speechless when picking her up, and when he respected her boundaries when she told him she has a three date rule.

     The first time they slept together, Amy realized just how much she loved Jake and wanted to be with him. That was obvious when they ended up in her bed after the second date. He reminded her of her rule, and for the second time in her life, she broke a Santiago rule.

     But boy was it worth it. Being with Jake for the first time was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. They fit together so perfectly, it was like every single thing she’d ever known in her life finally made sense. Saying there were fireworks when they kiss would be an understatement, it is more like a fire. Something she never wants to end, like warmth surrounding her. Being with Jake was something she always wants to be able to experience.

     When she told him she loved him for the first time, it was like finding the last puzzle piece she needed for her life. Except that piece was under the table, found in the last place that she would ever look. But the moment that she found it, everything else in her life finally made sense.

     When Jake proposed to her, she was completely caught off guard. They had been dating for a few years, but she didn’t think Jake was ready for that step. He had the biggest fear of commitment out of anyone that she knew, and not to mention he was still in _crushing_ debt. But he saved and saved, and bought her the most beautiful ring she would ever own.

     She had said yes, of course she would marry him. After admiring the ring and wiping away more (happy) tears from Jake’s face than hers, she whispered in his ear “you’re stuck with me, forever.” And she hadn’t realized exactly how much she meant that statement until this moment, at the checkout counter of the grocery store.

     She doesn’t want to do anything else, be with anyone else. That much she already knows. But even after being engaged to Jake for so long, it isn’t until right now, in this moment, that she realizes truly how great the rest of her life is going to be, stuck with Jake Peralta.

     The man who is currently loading their groceries into his car, in jeans and a rolled up plaid shirt and a loosened tie, handing her the receipt with a smirk and a glimmer in his eye as their eyes met.

     “What was that look for?” Amy asks, sliding into the passenger seat of his car.

     “Look at the receipt,” Jake grins a mischievous grin, and buckling his seatbelt.

     Amy looks down at the receipt for their groceries, eyes widening as she gets to the bottom of the thin paper. “JAKE?! You spent $17.32 on _candy_?!” She yells, smacking him on the shoulder.

     “What? You weren’t paying any attention once we got to that aisle, you got this really cute look in your eye,” Jake defends. “I started putting candy in the cart, and when you didn’t say anything, I assumed it was okay!”

     “I wasn’t distracted!” Amy lies; thinking back to what her train of thought was when they got to the snack aisle. She can’t remember what it was, until the sunlight catches on her engagement ring. She smiles, content with what it reminds her of. The doofus in the seat next to her.

   “Yes you were,” Jake retorts, turning to face her. “You were staring at me with this cute, goofy grin on your face!”

     “Was not!” Amy defends, crossing her arms over her chest. She lets her left hand stay on top, so she can manipulate the light on her ring to reflect the it in Jake’s eyes.

     “Yes you were too! You got so distracted by my cute face and hot body that you weren’t paying attention to what I was putting in the cart!” Jake responds. “Also be careful with that thing, it could blind me.” He gestures to her ring sarcastically.

     “So what if I was distracted? It’s just because I’m excited,” Amy says. “And sorry, you’re the one who bought me a ring that doubles as a weapon of mass destruction.”

     “What are you excited about? We haven’t gotten any farther on our case, and our DVR is empty after having this past weekend off,” Jake says, clearly confused.

     “I don’t know, Jake. Life? Being with you? This great lasagna that you’re gonna make tonight? How about all of the above? Am I not allowed to be excited?” Amy says, turning to face him, and throwing her hands up in confusion.

     “No, hon, you’re absolutely allowed to be excited!” Jake exclaims, grabbing her hands. “And you’re right, my lasagna is going to be great!” He leans forward and kisses her on the forehead.

     With that one show of affection, just sitting in his car in the grocery store parking lot on their way home after work, reminds Amy of how much Jake means to her. Relief and excitement flood back into her as she drops his hands and pulls him into a hug across the center console.

     “Thanks babe. Now can we get home? I’m starving,” Amy says, pulling back from his embrace and buckling her seatbelt.

     “Yep. You’re not even ready for this lasagna, it’s on another level,” he jokes, turning the key to start the car.

     “Oh is it?” She jokes in response.

     He laughs in response. “It is. And we’ll have a great desert of candy because you were too busy checking me out to notice _what_ I was checking out.”

     She gives him another look and giggles. _Yeah, he’s the one._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! If you feel the need to scream with my about how enamored Jake is with Amy at all times, come hang out with me over at thinking-in-fragments.tumblr.com
> 
> (Sorry if there are any errors or if it seems weirdly out of character in places, my revisions to this are pretty minimal. Please let me know if there are any because I'm an Amy Santiago level perfectionist and would really appreciate being able to fix it!)


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